2001 Maniacs - Review

A GROUP of sex mad teens head for the beach for spring break but get lost and end up in the town of Pleasant Valley which is preparing for its annual ‘Guts and Glory’ jubilee.

The town is populated by a group of hillbillies led by the mayor and it isn’t long before the teens realise what’s on the menu …

What follows can only be described as an orgy of gore effects and bad jokes – the tone is purely infantile and it’s quite clear the film is aimed at an adolescent audience.

Robert Englund (aka Freddy Krueger to you and me) hams it up as the mayor to amusing effect but the rest of the cast get little chance to shine.

The film rattles along at a manic pace with little importance placed on character development or plot, which seems to exist merely to get from one gore effect to the next. The emphasis here is solely on gore and there’s plenty of it!

Exploding armadillos, people being crushed, decapitations and even a human kebab (!) all make appearances and the effects are impressive and inventive.

But there’s little to disturb as the film’s tongue is placed firmly in its cheek. In fact, there are times when it plays like a deranged version of American Pie, complete with nob gags aplenty and the now compulsory masturbation gag and college rock montage.

The town is also inexplicably full of gorgeous girls who expose themselves at the drop of a hat.

This is a horror comedy that’s neither particularly scary or funny. It may serve as a guilty pleasure for gore aficionado’s who don’t take it too seriously but that’s about it.